them in the year 1748, being then a missionary from the Scotch Society for propagating Christian Knowledge. He writes thus: "SIR, Though I was very desirous of learning the Indian tongue, yet through my short residence at Onoughquage, and the surly disposition of my interpreter, I confess my proficiency was not great. Except the Tuscaroras, all the Six Nations speak a language radically the same. It is very masculine and sonorous, abounding with gutturals and strong aspirations, but without labials. Its solemn grave tone is owing to the generosity of its feet, as you will observe in the following translation of the Lord's Prayer, in which I have distinguished the time of every syllable by the common marks used in prosody.* "Soungwauneha, caurounkyawga, tehseetaroan, sauhsoneyousta, esa, sawaneyou, Ŏkettauhsela, ehneauwoung, na, caurounkyawga, nughwonshauga, neattewehnesalauga, taugwaunautoronoantoughsick, toantaugweleewheyoustaung, cheneeyeut, chaquatautalehwheyoustaunna, toughsau, taugwaussareneh, tawautottenaugaloughtoungga, nasawne, sacheautaugwass, coantehsalohaunzaickaw, esa, sawauneyou, esa, sashautzta, esa, soungwasoung, chenneauhaungwa, auwen. 3 w "The extraordinary length of Indian words, and the guttural aspirations, necessary in pronouncing * If we had a good dictionary, marking the quantity as well as emphasis of every syllable in the English language, it would conduce to an accuracy and uniformity of pronunciation. The dignity of style, so far as the ear is concerned, consists principally in generous feet; and perhaps it may be a just remark, that no sentence, unless in a dialogue, ends well without a full sound. Gordon and Fordyce rarely swerve from this rule, and Mr. Mason, an ingenious author, has lately written with great applause on this attribute of style. them, render the speech extremely rough and difficult. The verbs never change in their terminations, as in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, but all their variations are prefixed. Besides the singular and plural, they have also the dual number. A strange transposition of syllables of different words, euphonia gratia, is very common in the Indian tongue, of which I will give an instance. OGILLA signifies fire, and CAWAUNNA great, but instead of joining the adjective and substantive to say great fire, cĂwÃUNNĀ OGILLA, both words would be blended into this one, CO-GILLA-WAUNŇA. The dialect of the Oneidas is softer than that of the other nations; and the reason is, because they have more vowels, and often supply the place of harsh letters with liquids. Instead of R, they always use L: Rebecca would be pronounced Lequecca." The art of public speaking is in high esteem among the Indians, and much studied. They are extremely fond of method, and displeased with an irregular harangue, because it is difficult to be remembered. When they answer, they repeat the whole, reducing it into strict order. Their speeches are short, and the sense conveyed in strong metaphors. In conversation they are sprightly; but solemn and serious in their messages relating to public affairs. Their speakers deliver themselves with surprising force and great propriety of gesture. The fierceness of their countenances, the flowing blanket, elevated tone, naked arm, and erect stature, with a half eircle of auditors seated on the ground, and in the open air, cannot but impress upon the mind, a lively idea of the ancient orators of Greece and Rome. At the close of every important part of the speech, ratifying an old covenant, or creating a new one, a belt is generally given, to perpetuate the remembrance of the transaction. These belts are about four inches wide, and thirty in length. They con sist of strings of conque shell beads fastened together.* With respect to religion, the Indians may be said to be under the thickest gloom of ignorance. If they have any, which is much to be questioned, those who affirm it, will find it difficult to tell us wherein it consists. They have neither priest nor temple, sacrifice nor altar. Some traces, indeed, appear of the original law written upon their hearts; but they have no system of doctrines, nor any rites and modes of public worship. They are sunk unspeakably beneath the polite pagans of antiquity. Some confused notions, indeed, of beings superior to themselves, they have; but of the Deity and his natural and moral perfections, no proper or tolerable conception; and of his general and particular providence they know nothing. They profess no obligations to him, nor acknowledge their dependence upon him. Some of them, it is said, are of opinion, that there are two distinct, powerful beings, one able to help, the other to do them harm. The latter they venerate most, and some allege, that they address him by a kind of prayer. Though there are no public monuments of idolatry to be seen in their country, yet the missionaries have discovered coarse imagery in wooden trinkets, in the hands of their jugglers, which the converts deliver up as detestable. The sight of them would remind a man of letters, of the Lares and Penates of the ancients, but no certain judgment can be formed of their use. The Indians sometimes assemble in large numbers, and retire far into the wilderness, where they eat and drink in a profuse manner. These conventions are called Kenticoys. Some esteem them to be debauched *Those beads which pass for money, are called by the Indians, wampum, and by the Dutch, sewant; six beads were formerly valued at a styver. There are always several poor families at Albany, who support themselves by coining this cash for the traders. revels or Bacchanalia; but those who have privately followed them into these recesses, give such accounts of their conduct, as naturally lead one to imagine, that they pay a joint homage and supplication to some invisible being. If we suppose they have a religion, it is worse than none, and raises in the generous mind, most melancholy ideas of their depraved condition. Little has been done to illuminate these dark corners of the earth with the light of the Gospel. The French priests boast indeed of their converts, but they have made more proselytes to politics than religion. Queen Anne sent a missionary amongst them, and gave him an appointment out of the privy purse. He was a man of a good life, but slow parts; and his success very inconsiderable. The Rev. Mr. Barclay afterwards resided among the Mohawks, but no suitable provision being made for an interpreter, he was obliged to break up the mission. If the English Society for propagating the Gospel, that truly venerable body, instead of maintaining missionaries in rich Christian congregations along the continent, expended half the amount of their annual contributions on evangelists among the heathen, besides the unspeakable religious benefits that would, it is to be hoped, accrue to the natives, such a proceeding would conduce greatly to the safety of our colonies, and his majesty's service. Much has been written upon this subject in America;* and why nothing to purpose has yet been attempted in England, towards so laudable a design, can only be attributed to the amazing falsehoods and misrepresentations, by which some of the missionaries have long imposed upon benevolent minds in Great Britain.† * See Mr. Hobart's Letters to the Episcopalians in New-England. The Account of the Scotch Mission at Stockbridge. Douglass's Summary, &c. † This is notorious to all who give themselves the trouble of perusing the abstracts of their accounts published in England. It would be a very agreeable office to me, on this occasion, to distinguish the innocent from the guilty, but As to the history of the Five Nations, before their acquaintance with the Europeans, it is wrapt up in the darkness of antiquity. It is said that their first residence was in the country about Montreal; and that the superior strength of the Adirondacks, whom the French call Algonquins, drove them into their present possessions, lying on the south side of the Mohawks River, and the great Lake Ontario.* Towards the close of those disputes, which continued for a long series of years, the Confederates gained that such a task would infallibly raise up a host of enemies. Many of the missionaries are men of learning and exemplary morals. These in America are known and honoured, and cannot be prejudiced by an indiscriminate censure. Their joining in a representation for distinguishing the delinquents, who are a disgrace to the cloth, will serve as a full vindication of themselves to the Society. Mr. Ogilvie is, I believe, the only person now employed by that charitable corporation among the Indians, and the greatest part even of his charge is in the city of Albany. All the Scotch missionaries are among the heathen, and their success has been sufficient to encourage any future attempts. There is a regular society of Indian converts in New-Jersey; and it is worthy of remark, that not one of them has apostatized into heathenism. Some of them have made such proficiencies in practical religion, as ought to shame many of us, who boast the illuminating age of our native Christianity. Not one of these Indians has been concerned in these barbarous irruptions, which have lately deluged the frontiers of the south-western provinces, with the blood of several hundred innocents of every age and sex. At the commencement of these ravages, they flew into the settlements, and put themselves under the protection of the government. These Indians no sooner became Christians, than they openly professed their loyalty to king George; and, therefore, to contribute to their conversion was as truly politic, as nobly Christian. Those colonies which have done most for this charitable design, have escaped best from the late distressing calamities. Of all the missionaries, Mr. David Brainerd, who recovered these Indians from the darkness of Paganism, was most successful. He died the 9th of October, 1747, a victim to his extreme mortification and inextinguishable zeal for the prosperty of his mission. Those who are curious to inquire particularly into the effects of his indefatigable industry, may have recourse to his journal, published at Philadelphia, by the American correspondents of the Scotch Society, in whose service he was employed. Dr. Douglass, ever ready to do honour to his native country, after remarking that this selfdenying clergyman rode about 4000 miles, in the year 1744, with an air of approbation, asks, "Is there any missionary from any of the Societies for propagating the Gospel in foreign parts, that has reported the like?" *Charlevoix, in partiality to the French, limits the country of the Five Nations, on the north, to the 44th degree of latitude; according to which, all the country on the north side of the Lake Ontario, and the river issuing thence to Montreal, together with a considerable tract of land on the south side of that river, belongs to the French. Hennepin, a Recollet friar, has more regard to truth than the Jesuit; for he tells us in effect, that the Iroquois possessed the lands on the north as well as the south side of the lake, and mentions several of their villages in 1679, viz. Tejajahon, Kente, and Ganneousse. The map in his book agrees with the text. Charlevoix is at variance with his geographer; for Mr. Bellin, besides laying down these towns in the map, contained in the fifth volume, writes on the north side of the protraction of Lake Ontario, Les Iroquois du Nord. |